The 2014 Miss World Philippines coronation night happened last Sunday, Oct. 12, and Valerie Weigmann was announced the winner. The former Eat Bulaga! host will represent our country in the upcoming Miss World international pageant and Pinoys are hoping for a back-to-back win, after our very own Megan Young took home the crown last year.
We at Coconuts Manila LOVE beauty pageants and these are some of the things we were reminded of/realized after watching the show last Sunday – in the comforts of our sofa, armed with ice cream and chichirya.
1. IT PAYS TO BE A CELEBRITY
Valerie was a Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition housemate in 2008 and used to be a host in Eat Bulaga!, and those surely contributed to making her perform well in front of an audience and the camera. Of course, we’re pretty sure most of the judges recognized her from those gigs, and that’s always a good thing, right?
2. BEING HALF-HALF IS GOOD
In all fairness to Valerie, she does look stunning. But you know how some Pinoys instantly equate being half-something or mestiza with being superior? Sure, it is some sort of universal truth how Pinoys make good babies when partnered with someone from another country (just look at a majority of our artistas today) but in a country like the Philippines, being half-something is always an advantage. Just look at Valerie, who is half-German.
3. WINNING A LOT OF SPECIAL AWARDS IS ALWAYS GOOD
While winning both Miss Friendship and Miss Talent does not automatically make you take home the actual crown or even advance you to the next round, there are lots of instances when the candidate who some or majority of the awards ends up as the pageant winner. Just look at Valerie, who made hakot the following awards/titles: Miss World CamSur, Best in Swimsuit, Best in Fashion Runway, Best in Long Gown, Miss Solaire, Miss Figlia, Jessi Mendez Salon Ambassador, Miss Bench, Miss Reducin, Miss Blue water Day Spa, Miss Olay, Miss Hana Shampoo.
4. IT PAYS TO MEMORIZE
The Miss World Philippines pageant had some segments where some of the hosts interviewed them “candidly” backstage. Props to the girls who flawlessly delivered their answers – no buckling, no dead air, no kurap. In the Q&A segment for the Top 5, the usual “pick-your-judge-from-the-fishbowl” didn’t happen; there was only one question for all the finalists and all of them were able to answer the question with confidence. Our point: it pays to memorize your answers. A memorized answer no matter how far from the question is always better than uhms or dead air or babbling that leads nowhere.
5. PAGEANTS ARE NOT PAGEANTS WITHOUT SOMETHING TO LAUGH ABOUT
We kinda hated Miss World Philippines this year because of the lack of tripping, slipping, and wrong grammar answers during the Q&A portion. Thank God for ugly gowns, dark singits and kili-kili, and contestants who do not LOOK qualified to be beauty queens. Let’s admit it, pageants are so much more fun to watch when we have all those.
Here’s hoping to tripping and wrong grammar answers next year!
Photo: vweigmann Instagram account
